‘Jekyll and Hyde’ Stealth lose 14-5

They should have built off the momentum of a come-from-behind victory over the defending National Lacrosse League champions the week before.

But instead, a dismal first half did in the Vancouver Stealth.

The Stealth trailed 12-3 at the break en route to a 14-5 loss to the visiting Colorado Mammoth on Saturday night at the Langley Events Centre.

The Mammoth remain the league’s lone unbeaten team at 4-0 while Vancouver fell to 1-2.

“It is frustrating because it is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” said Vancouver captain Curtis Hodgson. “Two disappointing losses at home, flat out embarrassing losses.”

In two games at the LEC, the Stealth have been outscored 31-12. The team had a huge 13-11 road victory over the Saskatchewan Rush in between the two defeats.

“There is no secret that Colorado is a great team, firing on all cylinders and putting a lot of goals in, but in all three facets (offence, defence and special teams), we have to be better,” Hodgon said.

“Lacrosse is a game of momentum and runs and we certainly did not do enough to stop their runs.

“And we put ourselves in too big of a hole to get back into the game.”

Colorado led 3-0 after one quarter and broke the game wide-open in the second quarter with eight goals.

Both Stealth goalies saw action with Eric Penney allowing eight goals on 33 shots and Chris Levis stopping 10 of 16 shots. Combined this season, the goaltenders have a save percentage of .722. The league average is .773.

And while the goaltending needed to be better, coach Dan Perreault wasn’t ready to pin the loss entirely on that position.

“Sometimes you need a timely save, but regardless …. (Colorado) had wide-open looks,” he said.

“You are certainly not going to blame your goaltending when there is a guy wide open and nobody even checking him.”

Joel McCready led the Stealth offence with two goals while Logan Schuss had a goal and three helpers. Corey Small and Travis Cornwall had the others.

The Mammoth were led by John Grant Jr. (five goals, two assists) and Callum Crawford (four goals, two assists).

Dillon Ward made 50 saves for Colorado, including 33 in the second half.

The Stealth had a 14-10 advantage in face-offs and also collected 61 loose balls compared to Colorado’s 54.

Next up for the Stealth is a road game Saturday night in Calgary versus the Roughnecks (1-2).

Hodgson said the team will fix its mistakes and be better next week.

“I believe in this group and I know what we will bounce back and put together a much more solid game in Calgary,” he said.

“I believe in this team (and) we have the characters and guys in the room to figure it out.”